


Common Ground

by Meags09



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-23 01:56:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8309335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meags09/pseuds/Meags09
Summary: Set after 702 "That's What You Get, Folks, For Makin' Whoopee". Lorelai and Luke separately run into the other's ex, who both give unexpected insight with the help of a little booze. Can we prevent a French Twist? Let's find out. Betaed by Skinfull and cheerleaded by JumpingCattleHockey.





	1. A Drink With Nicole

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this over a month ago, and I'm only brave enough to post it now. Thanks to Skinfull for the beta and encouraging me to make this oneshot into a 3 chapter story. Stay tuned!
> 
> Also a reminder that you can find me on tumblr at meags09, where I frequently post snippets of future fics and reblog lots of great LL gifs. I'm always up to chat about Gilmore, writing, or the best order at Starbucks.

 

Lorelai was completely and utterly miserable. She stared blankly in front of her, not seeing anything. Sookie had insisted she take a personal day, so she'd gone through the motions, pretending to shop and do things that normally would have made her happy. Her shopping bags rested on one of the cafe chairs inside the Starbucks she was in, and she absently sipped at her coffee even though she could barely taste it. She didn't even know what was inside her shopping bags, she'd just tossed a few things at the cashier and handed her credit card over.

She had been on autopilot ever since she had woken up that fateful morning in Christopher's bed. And then she'd had to tell Luke what she'd done, and later he'd told her that they simply weren't meant to be. If she thought she'd been heartbroken before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now.

She didn't even know why she'd bothered to come inside the Starbucks. She typically stayed away from the chain, preferring smaller coffee shops with quirk and charm, but it was a step removed from her former life, and so it carried no painful reminders of the past. Setting down the cup, she stared at her hands a moment. Without the engagement ring, her hand felt naked. Everything felt _wrong_. She wished she was in a horrible nightmare and that soon she would wake up with Luke, warm beside her in their bed, snoring deeply. She missed the snoring. She missed the way he didn't rinse the hairs out of the sink after shaving. She even missed tripping over his boots in the foyer.

But before she could let the self pity wash over her any further, a blonde head did a double take in front of her. "Lorelai?" the woman asked, quizzically. Her head snapped up, and she looked right into the eyes of Nicole Leahy.

"N-N-Nicole!" she said, surprised. She knew that Nicole worked around New York, but had definitely not expected to run into her in one of the hundreds of Starbucks in the city. "Hello!"

"How are you?" she asked politely.

"Fine!" Lorelai said, flashing a large fake smile. "Never better! Bobby Darin could have written a song about how great I am. How are you?"

"Great," she replied, her eyebrows raised at Lorelai's over-the-top cheerfulness. "Getting married again," she said demurely, flashing a huge engagement ring.

Lorelai paled. Her lip quivered. She tried in vain to pull herself together. "Congratulations," she choked out.

"Lorelai?" Nicole said again, tilting her head. Lorelai shook her head, desperately trying to compose herself. Nicole sat down across from her at the small table, and reached for her hand. "Are you okay?"

Lorelai barked out a short laugh, although it almost sounded like a sob. With a shaking hand, she wiped furiously at her eyes. "It's nothing, I'll be fine," she replied shakily.

"Hey, I know we were never friends, but you are obviously not fine. Is it—" she paused "—Rory? That's your daughter's name, right?"

Despite herself, Lorelai smiled. Even though they had practically been rivals, Nicole still had remembered her daughter's name. "No, no, Rory's fine. She's going to graduate from Yale next Spring," she said, a hint of pride in her bright eyes.

"That's wonderful," Nicole said warmly. She pulled her hand back and took a sip from her cup. "You must be so proud of her."

"I am," Lorelai said, and then she sniffled. Changing the subject to Rory was helping her calm down, and she desperately didn't want to cry in front of Nicole.

"So, either you just get really emotional at the thought of weddings, or something is going on. If you want to talk or something, I'm here. I don't have anything to do with Stars Hollow anymore, I'd be like an impartial third party."

Lorelai raised her eyebrow. "I thought you were one of Taylor's lawyers?" she asked.

"Oh!" Nicole laughed. Lorelai took a moment to see her — really see her — and discovered that she had a nice laugh. She seemed really… _nice_. For so long she had wondered what on earth Luke saw in her, but for a moment, she finally saw it. "No, once the Soda Shoppe was completed, I actually switched firms. We thought that it would be best for everyone, conflicts of interests and all." Lorelai nodded. She assumed the timing had coincided with her marriage to Luke. She really didn't want to bring him up, so she didn't ask.

"I don't know if I can," she said instead. "Talk about it, I mean." She took a deep breath, and gazed at her left hand again.

"Were you married?" Nicole asked softly.

Lorelai looked up at her, and saw sympathy. She felt the pressure building behind her eyes again. "Engaged," she whispered. Lorelai blinked, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. "I… I messed it up," she said, her eyes falling down again.

"Do I know the guy?" Lorelai looked up, and the look on her face said it all. Nicole's eyes widened. "Oh," she said, her cheeks growing pink. Nicole took a large sip from her cup, and then looked at Lorelai again, a look of contemplation on her face. "We need something stronger than coffee," she said, and stood up. She waited by the table, looking down at Lorelai.

Lorelai was speechless. What, was she going to get drunk with Nicole and talk about _Luke_? In what world was _that_ a good idea? But the thought of going back home, back to the house they'd renovated and the bed they'd shared was too much. So she grabbed her bags and walked to Nicole's sensible luxury sedan, and got inside.

* * *

"This is a nice place," Lorelai said nervously, looking around. The bar was dark even though though it was still mid-afternoon. Dim lamps hung above the tables, and jazz music was playing. There were a few people in the bar, mostly overly-coiffed young people in designer suits. It wasn't really her style of bar, but it wasn't seedy or overly boisterous. A tall lanky guy dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt came up to their table, and nodded toward Nicole as if he knew her.

"Hey Danny," she said. "Two manhattans." She looked over at Lorelai, who nodded in agreement. "Make them doubles," she added. The waiter walked away without having said a word.

"Chatty guy, that Danny," said Lorelai.

Nicole smiled wanly. "He's had a tough life," she said. "He filed for emancipation a few years ago. Parents were addicts. I helped him pro bono."

"Oh," replied Lorelai, in shock. She realized again how little she knew about Nicole.

"It was Luke, actually, that encouraged me to take his case." Nicole looked away and smiled in remembrance. Lorelai felt her heart clench at the sound of his name. She wondered if it would ever get easier, if she would ever be able to say his name and smile. If she would ever hear his name again without seeing the look of pure betrayal on his face when she'd told him about Christopher, or the passive, unconcerned look when they'd unexpectedly met in the frozen food aisle. Nicole cleared her throat, and it brought Lorelai back to the present. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

Danny reappeared, and plunked their drinks in front of them unceremoniously before disappearing once again. Lorelai picked up her glass and took a gulp. "I think I need to be drunk first," she replied, with a sad smile.

Nicole smirked in return. She lifted her glass in Lorelai's direction. "To getting drunk," she said, and took a drink. They chit-chatted about their respective jobs, with Nicole giving a basic rundown of a few recent cases she had undertaken, and Lorelai talking about the Dragonfly and some of the events they'd held recently, studiously avoiding the man that linked them.

By the time Lorelai was on her third double Manhattan, her vision was slightly blurry and the words began to pour of her. "I cheated on him," she confessed suddenly, and Nicole's eyebrows shot up. "He wasn't in it, and I was heartbroken. So I slept with Rory's dad, Christopher."

Nicole's mouth dropped open, and she went to speak several times before she was able to form words. "I don't understand," she said. "I mean, the reason things didn't work out between him and me was because he was too in love with you to even pretend to make our relationship work." Lorelai snorted. "It's true," Nicole said defensively, "anytime you needed anything, he went running. Fix the porch, fix the garbage disposal, Lorelai needs a ride, Lorelai needs more coffee. Lorelai needs $30,000."

"I guess he told you about that," Lorelai said, slightly embarrassed.

"No, he didn't." Lorelai had been playing with the stem of her glass, and looked up curiously. "I found out during the divorce," she said. "You know, splitting of assets and all. There was a marked difference between his assets in the first set of paperwork and the second."

"Ah," Lorelai nodded in understanding.

"So, what happened?" Nicole asked, her tone softening. "Was he not what you wanted?"

"He was everything I wanted," Lorelai said sadly. She took another drink, the acidic taste of the alcohol burning her tongue. She pushed aside the glass. "Even things I didn't know I wanted."

"So, what happened?"

Lorelai paused, trying to think through the alcoholic haze she was in. "He has a daughter," she finally replied. "April. She's 13."

"Thirteen?" Nicole asked incredulously. "Has he been hiding her away or something?"

"No, he just found out less than a year ago." Lorelai looked around the bar. "Can we order some food?" she asked. "I don't think I can drink any more and I need something to do with my hands."

"Sure," Nicole said, her obvious curiosity on hold for the moment. She flagged down Danny again, and ordered some appetizers. After he'd left, she turned back to Lorelai, who was digging at her cuticles. "So, he has a daughter?"

"Yeah," Lorelai sighed. Then she laughed bitterly. "And he found out and then he didn't tell me for two months. We were engaged! I thought I deserved to know about something like this."

"That's Luke," Nicole said pointedly. "He doesn't tell anything to anyone."

"But I thought we were different," she said. A lone tear rolled down her face, but she didn't look up. "He didn't even want me to meet her. He completely shut me out."

The two women sat in silence for awhile, until Danny returned with the food. He placed two plates in front of them, and Lorelai perked up a little.

Nicole waited for a moment, taking small sips from her drink, not sure what to say. She let Lorelai eat for several long moments. Finally, she set her drink down and picked up a french fry. "Luke did the same thing to me," she said, after wiping her mouth with a napkin. Lorelai's head snapped up abruptly.

"He had another secret kid?" she asked skeptically, after swallowing the food in her mouth.

"No, he shut me out," Nicole replied.

Lorelai looked at her carefully, then nodded. "Yeah," she said softly. "So I guess we weren't meant to be either."

"Look," Nicole said, after she finished chewing, "I don't know if you are or not. I just know that our situations are scarily similar. I mean, things were great, we got married on a whim under maybe not the best circumstances, but then he just completely walled me off. I couldn't figure a way back in. And then he found out I was sleeping with a colleague, and there was no going back after that."

"The sock man," Lorelai replied, nodding.

"The sock man?" Nicole asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, Luke called him the sock man. Because one day after he spent the night at your town house he ended up wearing some other guy's socks." It was Nicole's turn to snort.

"I guess by that point I was so tired of it, I was looking to get caught. I wasn't very careful." Nicole gazed over at Lorelai. "My heart was broken, and I wasn't thinking very clearly. I really, really wanted to be with him. I wanted it to work."

"Did you love him?" Lorelai asked, not entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer.

Nicole paused, looking thoughtful. "I wanted to," she said. "He's really a good guy, deep down in there."

"I know," Lorelai whispered. She let her head drop into her hands, and she took a deep breath. She didn't want to cry here, in this strange bar in New York, across the table from Luke's ex-wife. The only thing she truly wanted was a way to go back in time, but even then she didn't know how far back to go. To before she went to Chris' place? To before she suggested to postpone the wedding? To before he found out about April? To before she proposed? Before the vow renewal and the first break up? Everything was so broken, she didn't even know when the first fracture had been.

"So he had a daughter and shut you out, so you went to another man?"

"Not exactly," Lorelai said hesitantly, dropping her hands to her lap. "When I found out about April, he kept saying it was all too much, with the wedding and everything. So I suggested we postpone the wedding, never dreaming he would actually take me up on it."

"But he did," said Nicole knowingly.

"He did." Lorelai sighed deeply. "And then he kept pulling away. We renovated my house to live there together but he never moved in. After we postponed the wedding, we didn't set a new date. We stopped—" Lorelai stopped abruptly, and her cheeks burned.

"You stopped having sex?" Nicole asked bluntly. Lorelai nodded, feeling deeply embarrassed. "And _then_ you cheated?"

"No." She swallowed, and took another drink from her cocktail, bracing against the sweet burn, her throat dry from all the talking. "Eventually, I had enough. His kid's mother didn't want me around because engaged isn't married, and she wanted to protect her kid. Which, I get, I really do, but then I told Luke we had to get married." She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and another tear trickled down. "I said now or never. And he… he let me walk away."

"I'm confused," Nicole said. "When did the cheating happen?"

Lorelai looked up, her face the picture of misery. "That night. After I said now or never, and he didn't respond. I left and went to Boston, and spent the night with Chris. I mean, I didn't intend to sleep with him, but I definitely didn't discourage him."

"You're being too hard on yourself," Nicole replied. "You thought it was over. And you were clearly not thinking straight. Were you drunk?"

"Yes," Lorelai said. "I swear, any time there is Christopher is involved, Cuervo isn't too far behind."

"Did you explain that to him?"

"Not really," Lorelai replied. She picked up a french fry and chewed on it, thinking over their last few conversations. "I told him it was over, that I slept with Christopher, and then the next time I saw him, he acted like he was completely fine and over it. Like, he wasn't even sad." Her lip quivered again as she recalled their conversation in the market. "He said we weren't right together. That I belonged with Christopher, and we should stop fighting it."

"Maybe I'm just trying to justify my actions after the fact," Nicole said, and the change of direction surprised Lorelai, "but it wasn't just my fault. I mean, maybe I went about it wrong, and I have to admit that I wanted to hurt him because he hurt me. I just felt so unwanted that when Elliot kissed me, it was like a lightbulb went off. I mean, I don't think I'm Gisele Bundchen, but I'm not a dog. I've certainly never had a problem getting a date. But I couldn't even get my _husband_ to come home at night."

"Elliot?" Lorelai questioned.

"Yes, Elliot was the infamous 'Sock man'," Nicole said wryly. "And it didn't last between us. I don't think the ink was even dry on the divorce papers before we stopped seeing each other. It was a fling, but it gave me some perspective."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I realized that I didn't have to settle or make do with someone who didn't really want me. I mean, I'm surprised he never called out your name in his sleep or anything. It was so obvious."

"I didn't think so," Lorelai said glumly. "I thought he was completely repulsed by me until he invited me to his sister's wedding, and even then he had to yell at me and kiss me before I really got it."

"Hey, I'm really sorry," Nicole said quietly. "I know I wasn't really nice to you when I was married to Luke. I mean, can you blame me? I was _married_ and the only woman that my husband could see was you." Lorelai nodded, her gaze falling to her lap. "But, I thought if he ever got off his ass and made a move, I — well, I thought if anyone could make it, you two could."

Lorelai looked up and gave her a watery smile. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve the honest, heartfelt sympathy from this woman. Even if they had more in common than she'd previously thought.

"I'm sorry, too," she said. "That it didn't work out between you two."

"It's okay," Nicole said. "Luke and I, we had a good time when we dated. But we weren't forever material. John, my fiance, he and I are so much better as a couple. Luke hated all of the fancy parties and social events I have to do for my work. He doesn't even really like lawyers."

Lorelai laughed, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "No, no, he doesn't."

"And I wasn't really into the outdoorsy stuff or the small town thing. I mean, sure, Stars Hollow is nice to visit, but I like more options for the day-to-day. Besides, how many unicorn-centric stores does one town need?" Lorelai and Nicole smiled at each other.

"I didn't think this would help, and maybe I have no answers yet, but I do feel a little better," Lorelai admitted. She picked up a mushroom cap, eyed it suspiciously, then popped it into her mouth. "This is good," she mumbled.

"My only advice is this," Nicole said, still smiling. "Don't settle." Lorelai looked at her in confusion. "What I mean is, even if things never work out between you and Luke, don't settle for second best. Date, build your career, focus on your daughter. Don't just commit to the next guy that shows up, if you aren't truly invested."

"But what if I never meet anyone I want to marry more than Luke?" she asked, and her voice cracked slightly.

"Would it be so bad?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "I think pretending for the rest of your life would be worse. And that's why I'm glad things didn't work out with Luke. We were just pretending." Nicole checked her watch. "I'm really sorry, but I have to meet John for dinner in about 30 minutes, although he may be a little upset with me since I've already snacked. Are you okay to drive?"

Lorelai considered this. After two and a half strong cocktails and only a small amount of food, she shouldn't risk it. "How about you drive me to where my car is and I'll find a hotel?"

"Sure," Nicole said.

* * *

Nicole dropped her off across the street from where the Starbucks was located. Her Jeep was in a nearby parking garage and would be fine until the morning. "There's a Hilton on the corner," Nicole said, pointing toward the structure. She paused, looking at Lorelai in the passenger seat. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, her voice warm.

"I hope so," Lorelai replied honestly. She held the styrofoam container with their leftovers from the bar, and climbed out of the seat. She grabbed her shopping bags and stood shakily on the sidewalk. Nicole reached across the console and held out a business card. Lorelai took it, giving her a puzzled look.

"Just in case you need someone to talk to," she said. "Bye Lorelai."

"Bye Nicole," she said, watching her pull back onto the city streets and drive away.

Lorelai started to walk toward the hotel slowly. Balancing her bags and her food, she reached for her phone in her purse. She dialed the Inn.

"Hey, Sook," she said when her friend answered.

"Hey, sweetie! How was your day of shopping in the city?"

"Um, good. Unexpectedly so." Lorelai paused a moment, wondering how much she should say. "I, uh, am a little tired though so I'm going to spend the night at a hotel instead of driving back tonight. I just wanted to let you know, I'll be in late tomorrow."

"Oh sure, no problem," Sookie replied, sounded distracted. "I said stir counterclockwise!" she shouted, and Lorelai winced. "Sorry, hon," she spoke into the phone. "We're prepping for dinner."

"I won't keep you," Lorelai replied quickly. "I'll see you tomorrow." She snapped the phone shut and kept walking, her whole body feeling lighter. She didn't know how she would even begin to heal from this, but she had renewed hope that she could. That the blame didn't fall on her shoulders alone.


	2. Max's Bachelor Party

"Damn TJ," Luke muttered to himself, as he pushed open the door to his truck. _Of course_ TJ would drop and shatter the new windows for the diner as they were placing them. Now the reopening was delayed another day while he ran into Hartford and picked up another custom cut glass. It was just the icing on the cake to finish out one of the most miserable weeks he'd had in recent memory.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, he realized when he walked up to the storefront that it was closed. He checked his watch and remembered the store closed at 4pm on Saturdays. He was _five minutes_ too late. He suppressed the urge to kick the door, breathing in deeply with his hands clenched at his sides.

He was stomping back to the truck, muttering a few profanities under his breath, when he saw a small bar across the road. _Why the hell not?_ he thought to himself. He crossed the empty street and slipped inside. Since it was so early in the evening, the place was deserted. He slid into one of the stools that lined the bar, and signalled over to the bartender.

"What'll you have?" the man asked, tossing a rag over his shoulder.

"Something on tap, whatever's cheap," Luke said, waving his hand toward all the brightly decorated knobs by the draft beer. The bartender raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, walking over and expertly pouring some beer into a glass. Luke slid over a card.

"Opening a tab?" the bartender asked. Luke nodded, accepting the beer and taking a long drink. He ran the card but when he came back around to hand it back, he hesitated. "You want to talk about it?" he asked.

"About what?" Luke replied shortly.

"The reason you're in here, alone, obviously aiming to get drunk on cheap beer, starting at 4 in the afternoon?"

They stared at each other a moment. "Nope," Luke finally said. He held out his hand to take the card back, and with a shake of his head, the bartender returned it to him.

Luke was very drunk by the time the bar had begun to fill up. People were all around, smiles on their faces and drinks in their hands. He'd never felt more alone, or more sorry for himself. He'd lost count of how many beers he'd had. The bartender continued to give him pitying glances, but since Luke wasn't causing a scene, merely sitting there with his beer, occasionally looking over at one of the televisions, he left him alone.

Two men lumbered up to the bar beside him, laughing and yelling. He glanced over, then did a double-take when he saw a well-coiffed head of hair signalling to the bartender. The man looked over, and his eyes met Luke's. "Well, well," the man said, his mouth twisting up in a smile.

"Max Medina," Luke said hoarsely, unused to speech after having been silent for so long.

"You own the diner in Stars Hollow, right?" Max said, snapping his fingers.

"Right." He turned back to his beer, not wanting to engage with the teacher even a little.

"So, did you ever tell her?" Max said, pointedly ignoring Luke's "leave me alone" body language.

"Tell who?" Luke said, without turning his head.

"Lorelai," Max said bluntly. "It was obvious you wanted her. Did you ever go for it?"

Luke swiveled around on his stool. "Not that it's any of your business, but yes. Yes, I did. But it was a waste of my time because she ended up running in the end."

"Ah," Max replied, raising his shot glass. "Then good on you for getting out. She didn't leave you at the altar, did she?"

"No," Luke said, tipping back the rest of his beer, then getting up to leave. He stumbled shakily, not realizing until he stood that he'd had way too much to drink on too empty of a stomach.

"Hey there, buddy," Max said, holding him upright. Luke tried to shrug him off, but he was too drunk to resist his aid.

"Not your buddy," he slurred.

"Stay, party with us," another man said. "You're already wasted!"

"Nah, I don't thi—" Luke started to say, but Max clapped him on the back and steered him toward a table with five other guys.

"Got a party crasher!" Max called genially. The men all raised their glasses in greeting and Luke mumbled one in return. He didn't want to be there but he couldn't walk on his own. He was at the mercy of these guys and he hated it. He felt like a captive, too drunk to realize he could insist on being put into a cab.

The man that had been with Max at the bar came back with a tray of shots. He set the tray in the middle of the table and held one up. "To my brother!" he said loudly, over the growing din of the bar. "Hopefully this one lasts at least until the honeymoon!"

Despite his drunken state, Luke perked up at this. "You're getting married?" he asked.

"Indeed," Max replied. He picked up the shot and tossed it back. "I waited until she asked me this time. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice."

Luke grunted noncommittally, waving off the shot that Max's brother offered him.

"So how do you know Max?" one of the other men asked. Luke opened his mouth to answer but Max beat him to it.

"Ah, great story. One for the ages," Max started, lifting his empty shot glass as if giving a toast. "Luke here—it is Luke, right?—he was very good friends with Lorelai Gilmore."

"Lorelai, your ex-fiance?" the brother asked.

"The one and the same," Max replied. He set down the glass and picked up a beer. "So one day, right before I proposed, I was picking up Lorelai for a date and this guy—" he jerked a thumb toward Luke, "—shows up and makes sure I know how much of a presence he has in Lorelai's life." He looks over at Luke with a smug grin. "Isn't that right?"

"Not how I remember it," Luke muttered.

"I knew there was something going on there," Max continued, not acknowledging Luke's comment. "Lorelai tried to tell me there wasn't, but I knew. A man just knows," he said to his friends, who all nodded in agreement.

"I never met this Lorelai, but she sounds like a real piece of work," a third guy said.

"Sexy as hell, though, wouldn't you agree, Luke?" Max's brother said, grinning madly.

"If I could stand, I'd be getting the hell out of here," Luke grumbled.

"It doesn't matter," Max said, continuing to ignore Luke's commentary. "I'm with Diane and we're solid. She's let me move in already, for god's sake. None of this 'I didn't have time to make a key' nonsense."

"What?" asked the guy to Luke's left.

"Oh this is a good one," Max said, leaning forward. "You'll like this, Luke. So, we're supposed to get married in a week, but she refuses to have a key made for me. She gives me all of these excuses. She's busy, she's tired. I should have known something was up. In fact, I did know. I was just hoping I was wrong."

"Hey, Steve," one of the guys said, and Max's brother looked over. "Why don't you get us some wings. Seems like we're having story time tonight."

"So what was the deal with you and Lorelai?" Max asked Luke. "She give you all her excuses?"

"What excuses?" Luke said, despite his misgivings at this whole line of conversation.

"Oh you know, the timing isn't right, she's worried about her life with Rory, she's not sure it's love, all that stuff." Max ticked off all the possible excuses on his fingers.

"Oh," Luke replied, shaking his head. "No."

"So what, then?" Max pressed.

Luke's nostrils flared in irritation. "Listen, _buddy_ , you're not my shrink and I don't need to tell you anything. Once I sober up enough to walk, I'm going to go sleep it off in my truck and you can get back to your trash talking since you're obviously still hung up on Lorelai. I'm not, I'm _fine_."

"You look fine," the guy to Luke's left said sarcastically. "Never seen a fella looking so _over it_."

"Doesn't matter," Max said, reaching for another shot. "It's all the same. You want to get married, she hems and haws for a week before grudgingly saying yes. You let her plan exactly the wedding she wants, and don't complain when you have zero input. When she won't let you in her daughter's life, you accept it. And she still changes her mind at the last minute. Age old story of a runaway bride and commitment phobic."

Considering that the end of the conversation, Max moved on to discussing beers with one of the other guys. Luke sat there silently, stewing. Steve came back with the wings and all the guys, with the exception of Luke, dug in.

"You're wrong," Luke said finally, interrupting the conversation going on around him.

"What's that?" Max asked, turning back to face him.

"You're wrong," Luke repeated, more forcefully. "You don't know Lorelai at all."

"I don't?" Max replied, laughing. "I think I knew her pretty well."

"If you know what he means," the guy across the table chipped in. Max gave him a glare, and he held up his hands in apology.

"So which part did I get wrong? Did you propose and have to wait forever for her answer? Did you have to fit your life into hers and not the other way around? Did you even get to meet Rory? Because I think if I hadn't been her teacher, she would have put that off as long as possible."

"First of all," Luke said, resting his hands against the table and directing his gaze toward Max the best he could while drunk, " _She_ proposed to _me_. And I said yes, right away, because I'm not an idiot. We renovated _her_ house for _us_ to live there. And I practically helped _raise_ Rory, thank you very much."

"Well, then," Max said, leaning back and grinning smugly. "If everything was so perfect, why did she run?"

Luke and Max stared at each other. Luke felt the bile in his stomach rising up to his throat, and the walls seemed like they were closing in around him. He couldn't stay there, these men staring at him like he was to be mocked, or worse, pitied. He didn't want to be thought of as just another in a long line of Lorelai's rejects. He was different, _they_ were different, he had always believed that. But what if he'd been wrong? He couldn't even fathom how much more it would all hurt if that were the case.

"I have to go," he said instead, and pushed himself up on unsteady feet. He crashed into some nearby tables, nearly pushing some other bar patrons to the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he heard Max say behind him, and felt a steady arm pulling him upright.

"Don't need your help," Luke snarled, trying to make his feet move one in front of the other.

"How about you hold me up, then?" Max suggested, trying to limit the damage in Luke's rampage across the crowded bar.

He burst out the front doors and onto the sidewalk, and lurched over to a nearby trash can. He braced his hands against the outside, and took a deep breath before retching into it. Over and over, he vomited, until there was nothing left but dry heaving. Unsteadily, he collapsed onto a bench beside the trashcan, feeling a cold sweat bead on his upper lip and forehead.

"Hey," Max said, sitting down on the bench, careful to leave at least a foot of space between them. "I didn't meant to upset you," he said. "I thought it might do you some good, you know, vent it all out. I know after the cancelled wedding, I went out with my buddies a few times. It feels good to let out all that anger and frustration. It helps to kickstart the healing process."

"Did you love her?" Luke asked, staring at his feet.

Max looked up in surprise at the non sequitur. "Uh, maybe? It was all so long ago. At the time, I thought I did." He leaned back against the bench, thinking. He was about to speak again when Luke broke the silence first.

"She wanted to elope," he said quietly. "I said no. Then she walked away and went straight to Christopher's bed."

"Christopher," Max mused. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"Rory's dad."

"Ah," Max chuckled. "Boy, that guy is an opportunist."

Luke looked over. "Huh?"

"Lorelai and I were together two separate times. We broke up the first time because the administration at Chilton found out I was dating a student's mother and all hell broke loose. And when I accused her of having something going on with _you_ , she said she'd slept with Rory's dad while we were apart." Luke looked up in surprise, then snorted, and shook his head. "It's funny, too," Max continued, "because the way she talked about him I knew that he was never a threat. Now _you_ , you were the threat."

"What?" Luke felt he must have heard wrong. He and Lorelai hadn't even come close to having a romantic relationship during the Max year.

"Oh yeah, she mentioned you a lot, except always without _really_ mentioning you. You know, _my friend_ came over to fix the porch rail, _my friend_ owns the diner, _my friend_ this and that…" He chuckled to himself. "No wonder she had no room in her life for me. It was all you."

"Me?" asked Luke incredulously. He'd never considered that he'd had such a pivotal role in Lorelai's life, enough so that her former fiance had felt threatened by him.

"So, let's psychoanalyze this," Max said, twisting to face Luke on the bench, and resting his arm against the back of it. "I'm just buzzed enough to play Freud. So, she wanted to elope, you said no, and so then she left and had sex with Rory's dad. Do I have it right so far?"

"She wanted to elope because we postponed the wedding," Luke replied.

Max grinned. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere. So why did you postpone the wedding?"

"It was too soon," Luke said. He clasped his hands in his lap and stared at them. His mind was beginning to clear now that he had purged most of the alcohol from his stomach, and his heart raced as he began to relive the past few months in his head. It made him feel sick again, and he knew this time it wasn't the beer that was turning his stomach.

"Too soon for what?"

"To get married."

"Well, yes, but what factors made the wedding too soon? You had out of town guests that weren't going to make it, or what?"

Luke sighed heavily. He didn't know why he was still talking, but he wasn't ready to move and Max was relentless. "I have a kid."

"Okay, a kid. And the kid doesn't like Lorelai?"

"No, she loves Lorelai. She's 13. Her name is April."

"Lorelai doesn't like April?"

"No, she likes her, too." Luke paused. "They got along great the one time that they met," he added.

"You only introduced your fiancee to your daughter once?" Max asked, puzzled.

"Yes," Luke replied defensively.

"That seems a little strange. Any reason?"

The door to the bar opened, and a few people spilled out, laughing loudly. The two men paused their conversation to watch them leave. When Luke spoke again, Max had been distracted, and had to ask him to repeat himself.

"Anna," he said again.

"Anna is… your other daughter?"

"No, she's April's mother."

"Ok, I'm going to need more to go on here," Max said, scratching his head. "So, did Anna not like Lorelai or something? Didn't want her around her kid? I mean, pregnant at 16, that's gotta raise some alarm bells."

"No, nothing like that. I don't even know, really." Luke tipped his head back to rest on the back of the bench, staring up at the cloudless sky. "We had a party. A birthday party for April at the diner. All of her friends were there, and they were bored. I didn't plan anything, I don't know how to do a kid's party. I've lived alone for decades. I don't know anything about kids. So I panicked. I called Lorelai. She knows how to do birthday parties. So she came and it was great. The kids all loved her. But Anna. Oh, Anna was mad. So mad. She acted like I had introduced the girls to a prostitute rather than my fiancee. And I told Lorelai that Anna was mad, and then it all fell apart."

Max waited a beat for more, but Luke had fallen silent again. "What do you mean, it all fell apart?"

He sighed heavily. "Well, I didn't see her for days. Lorelai, I mean. She was busy with work and she didn't come into the diner, and I couldn't find her at her house or at the inn. I looked for her all over Stars Hollow. I guess she was avoiding me. Then, she flew into the diner right before closing, and demanded that we elope. And I couldn't jump like that, I have to think of April. I can't just run off and make huge decisions like that without considering her. She's my kid, and she's a factor in any decision I make now. Lorelai should understand that."

"So you said no to eloping," Max replied, trying to get back to the point, and Luke nodded.

"I said no. And then, I went to her house the next day, trying to talk to her, to figure it out, but she kept saying it was over. Then Kirk drove Taylor's car into my diner—"

"What?" Max asked, but Luke continued on as if hadn't spoken.

"—and I just felt like everything was spinning out of control. But through it all, god, I needed her. I _need_ her. And I…" Luke trailed off, trying to piece everything together in his muddled head. "And I wanted time to get to know my daughter before we got married. To prove to Lorelai that I could do it. Be a father. _On my own_." He blew out a puff of air, almost angrily. "And I kept screwing it up. At every turn."

Luke fell silent at his admission, and the two men sat on the bench, both lost in their own thoughts. Occasionally, the door to the bar would open and the noise from inside would spill out, or a passing car would rumble by, but otherwise the night was quiet.

Max inhaled deeply. "When I was with Lorelai," he began, his voice contemplative, "all I wanted was for her to let me into her life. Her _amazing_ life. Her and Rory's. They are some of the most incredible, smart, fun-loving, and caring women I know." He paused, looking over at Luke, who was still looking downward. "It sounds to me like Lorelai wanted the same from you. For you to let her into your life."

Luke shifted on the bench, letting his head fall forward to rest in his hands. It wasn't what he wanted to hear. He wanted it all to be Lorelai's fault. She ran. She slept with Christopher. Not him, he didn't do anything. He stood still. He just wanted to figure out if he could do this dad thing. Lorelai had done the mom thing alone, why couldn't he? Why was it all so hard?

"Have you talked to her at all since the breakup?" Max said, interrupting Luke's thoughts once again.

Luke's voice was muffled through his palms, and Max had to concentrate to understand him. "I told her we needed to stop fighting it, that we weren't meant to be. I told her to go be with Christopher."

Max leaned forward. "Is that what you want?"

"No," Luke said forcefully, lifting his head slightly. "God, no."

"Then what do you want?"

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" Luke turned to look Max in the eye. Another wordless stare passed between them. He felt a little stronger after sitting for awhile in the cool night air. He had a putrid aftertaste in his mouth but he was pretty sure he had a bottle of water in the truck. "I think I can make it to my truck," he said, avoiding the answer that Max was waiting for. "Would you close out my tab inside?"

"Sure," Max said. "Need help?"

"I got it," he said. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Luke stood up, trying to make sure he was steady before crossing the street. He was still a little shaky, but much better. Max stood up, too, and the two men regarded each other silently.

"Congratulations," Luke said finally, lifting his hand in a small wave.

"Thank you," Max replied, smiling slightly. "Good luck."

Luke nodded in acknowledgment, then ambled across the street. When he reached his truck, he slipped inside, and rested back against the cool vinyl seats. It had a been a bit of a weird night. He hadn't expected to run into Max of all people, the other man who'd also been engaged to Lorelai, and heard his perspective.

Frankly, before, he hadn't cared much about Max's perspective. He hadn't liked him. He thought that Max wasn't right for Lorelai. _Who is?_ he thought glumly. _You?_ He'd thought so. They'd balanced each other out. Sweet and sour. Hard and soft. Light and dark.

Out of all the things that Max had said that night, the one thing that kept echoing around in his brain was how he'd said he never felt Christopher was a threat. Luke had always felt like Christopher was a threat. Even way back, before he'd even realized the extent of his feelings. He'd watched Chris flit in and out of their lives, leaving two crushed girls in his wake. It made his heart hurt just remembering it.

And then, about how Lorelai's life had become so tangled up in his over the many years they'd known each other. He had never considered that maybe Lorelai needed him, too. He liked doing those things for her, fixing the house and doing the town events she liked, just to see that beautiful smile light up her face. But it seemed like he'd been the man in her life for much longer than he'd realized. Some part of him had always held her at arm's length. His heart was bruised by decades of loss and the thought of giving himself totally to her was terrifying. What if she left? What if, god forbid, she died?

What if holding back had turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy?

There was simply too much to think about, and he could still feel the effects of the alcohol on his body, although the numb, weightless feeling had been replaced by a cement block residing in his gut. He turned the cap around to cover his eyes and slumped down in the seat, hoping to catch a few hours before he made the trip back to Stars Hollow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Couple of non-this story related things:
> 
> 1) I'm participating in the Gilmore Girls Christmas advent calendar this year and I'm writing a fic. My day is the 23 so I'm planning a Christmas themed story. If you have a prompt you want to share, please send PMs or Tumblr asks (meags09) with ideas. There's voting for all the content on alspancakeworld on tumblr, so go check it out if you are looking to see what it's all about. (http://alspancakeworld.tumblr.com/post/151631586979/the-smell-of-snow-buck-a-tree-candy-cane-coffee)
> 
> 2) Is anyone interested in having my Soundtrack oneshots smutified? There's not a ton of LL smut out there these days so I aim to fill the void. (Dirty!)
> 
> 3) I'm compiling a list of all the best Luke and Lorelai stories. You can find it on my tumblr: http://meags09.tumblr.com/curatedjjfanfic . I have seasons 1-6 already up and I'm working on season 7 and post-series fics. I hope to continue updating it for the foreseeable future.


	3. Lorelai's Salad Cravings

She accepted Christopher's invitation to a movie because she was lonely. He was being so sweet and wonderful that she just couldn't say no, although she had the sense that something wasn't quite right about it. She tried to tell him that the night that they had shared was a one-time thing. But for some reason, he didn't really get it. Months passed, and while she continued to see him occasionally, she stressed emphatically that they were friends and co-parents to their nearly adult daughter, and that was all. So it wasn't unusual that he called her one evening while she was at home, living the high life of eating pizza and feeding scraps to Paul Anka, who skittered at her heels when the phone rang.

"Come to Paris with me," he said, apropos of nothing, and Lorelai nearly dropped the phone.

"What?" she gasped. "Are you high?"

"Nope, I've finally given it up," Chris joked. Lorelai paced around the living room. "What do you say?" he wheedled, and she knew that he was desperate to get her away from Stars Hollow, away from everyone. That he wanted to convince her that the two of them were meant to be, hoping the ultra-romantic setting would work in his favor. But she knew it wasn't true. Nicole's words reverberated in her head.

_Don't settle._

"I can't, Chris," she said softly. She tuned out his continuing pleas for her to change her mind. Instead, her eyes settled on the one reminder she hadn't been able to throw away. The pressed bouquet of flowers that Luke had given her at the test run. The night he had first kissed her. Chris chattered away in her ear as she pressed her fingers to her lips. Nothing had ever set her on fire the way that kiss had.

And it wasn't just their physical connection. Luke knew her as an adult, not as a child. He knew how hard she had worked to make a life for her and Rory, how she had sacrificed for the both of them. He'd witnessed first hand the stress she had been under to open the Dragonfly, and he'd cheered her on the whole way. He'd been the rock she'd needed during her separation with Rory. And even though he'd found someone else to be his family, she couldn't do the same. She couldn't replace him with Chris, as much as she was tempted to.

_I think pretending for the rest of your life would be worse._

"I can't," Lorelai said again. She cut him off before he could ply her with more reasons. "I need to go. Goodbye Chris. Have a wonderful time in Paris." And she hung up the phone, placing it gently on the cradle.

It felt good to close the chapter on that part of her life.

* * *

She wasn't doing anything other than encapsulating the fine art of being a single woman of a certain age when the phone rang, almost a month later. She was surprised to hear Luke's voice on the other end, at first wildly hopeful that her stay in purgatory had ended and that he was calling to talk about _them_. She hadn't seen him since their encounter at the grocery store. She was avoiding the diner, town meetings, and walking around town during times when she knew he was likely to be out and about. She didn't want to accidentally run into him, and see that cold, passive look in his eyes; it would break her heart even more. He needed to come to _her_.

Instead, he was frantic, worried about April. She hated herself for feeling disappointed, only hoping that his concern made him oblivious to her tone. (She needn't have worried. Later on, she ruefully remembered that his inability to focus on anyone other than April is what had doomed the relationship to begin with.) He rattled off April's symptoms, sounding more frazzled and worried than she could recall him ever sounding, and she calmly suggested he bring her to St. Joseph's.

After hanging up, she pressed play on the remote control and tried to at least pretend she was watching the movie. She fidgeted on the couch for awhile, before she muttered "To hell with it," grabbing her coat and jamming her feet into her shoes, feeling slightly irritated with herself for caving so easily.

She passed through the hallways with ease, heading toward where she knew April would likely be. Nothing had changed since the times she'd had to bring Rory in for various childhood illness or for _that_ broken wrist. "Hey," she said, when she came into the waiting room.

Luke looked up, startled to see her. "Oh, hey. Hi," he stand, tossing aside the magazine he was flipping through and standing.

"How is she?" Lorelai asked, trying to cover up her nervousness with concern.

"Okay. It was appendicitis, like you said. But she's okay. I mean the operation went really great. They got it out, no problem. And she's gonna be fine. And I'm gonna be able to see her pretty soon."

"Good, good," Lorelai said, nodding.

"Yeah you didn't — you know you didn't have to come, but thanks for coming."

"There's nothing worse than taking your kid to the emergency room. You know, I remember Rory had food poisoning, and they had to hook her up to an I.V. And she just looked so little and scared. It made me feel like they were gonna have to hook _me_ up to an I.V."

Luke chuckled out of nervous relief. "I was almost out of my mind, I was so scared. I mean at one point, I got so panicked, I was thinking maybe I'd give her my appendix, you know if they could do some kind of a transplant or something. But I was a little out of my mind."

Lorelai smiled. "Well, I'm glad she's gonna be okay."

"She's gonna be alright…"

The doctor walked up to them. "Mr. And Mrs. Nardini?" he asked, looking between the two of them.

"Oh, no. Hi, I'm Luke Danes," he said, gesturing to himself. "I'm April's dad."

The doctor smiled in greeting, nodding to the both of them. "Well, she's a little out of it right now, but you and your wife can go in and see her."

Luke and Lorelai glanced at each other and started stammering at the same time.

"No, she's not my—"

"No, I'm not, uh—"

They paused, and looked at each other, sharing a slightly embarrassed smile. The irony wasn't lost on either of them that they should have been married, but for so many reasons, they weren't.

The doctor didn't notice the meaningful look that passed between them. "Oh. Sorry. I just assumed," he replied, pausing a moment. "So, would both of you like to go in and…"

"You go," Lorelai said, stepping back.

"Okay," Luke replied, pausing. He took a step forward and stopped. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Really?" Lorelai asked softly.

"Yeah, April would love to see you," he replied. He smiled, shrugging. "And I wouldn't mind, either."

Lorelai's face lit up in a smile, and she nodded. "Let's go see her," she said.

* * *

As April slept off the anesthesia from her appendectomy, Luke and Lorelai sat quietly on opposite sides of the room, not speaking other than cursory comments on either April or the television. He didn't know why he'd asked her to stay. They hadn't really spoken over the past several months. She never came into the diner and he hadn't seen her around town. And, obviously, he hadn't sought her out. The conversation that he'd had with Max was fuzzy, but fragments taunted him occasionally.

_Age old story of a runaway bride and commitment phobic… If everything was so perfect, why did she run?... Now you, you were the threat… You only introduced your fiancee to your daughter once?... all I wanted was for her to let me into her life._

Luke began clicking through the channels again, and stopped on a black and white movie.

"Ooh, Philadelphia Story!" Lorelai said.

"You've seen this?" he asked.

"Oh, dozens of times," Lorelai replied.

He set down the remote, and the dialogue floated over him. "And then I did you out of it by eloping to Maryland," he heard the actress say. He froze. When he looked up, he saw Lorelai staring at the television, her jaw set squarely.

"But I hope to make it up to you by going through with it now as originally planned," the man said, and Luke swallowed hard as the actress repeated the line. Lorelai glanced over and saw him looking at her, and something wordless passed between them. Luke started to speak, but at that moment April stirred.

"Dad?" she croaked, her eyes fluttering open. Luke quickly muted the television and turned his full attention on the young girl stirring in the bed.

"Sweetie, you're awake! Let me get you some water," Luke said, stealing another glance up at Lorelai, who was looking down at her hands. He held up a cup to April, positioning the straw to her lips. As she took tiny sips from the cup, he nodded toward Lorelai. "Look who else came to see you," he said softly.

April turned her head, and she smiled weakly to see the woman sitting on the other side of the bed. "Lorelai?"

"Hey, hon," Lorelai said warmly. "How are you feeling? You scared your dad silly."

"I'm good. Sleepy," April said, her voice still hoarse.

"Well, I'm going to go, let your guys have your privacy," Lorelai said, standing up. She smiled brightly. "I'm glad you're doing better April. I'll see you around?"

Luke stood up too, and walked her outside into the hallway.

"Well, see you," Lorelai said, ducking her head.

"Um, can we, uh, would it be okay if I…" Luke stammered, then he pressed his hands to his hat and exhaled forcefully. "Once April is back with her mom, can we talk?"

"Okay," Lorelai said, her voice sounding meek. "We'll talk," she said, her voice still trembling but slightly stronger.

"We'll talk," Luke repeated, then he gestured toward April's hospital room. "I'm gonna…"

"Yeah, okay," Lorelai said. As she walked back down the hallway toward the exit, she couldn't even begin to name all the range of emotions battling inside of her.

* * *

"Hi," Lorelai said, opening her front door several evenings later. Luke stepped in, looking around, as if wondering if she'd made major changes in the six months since he'd last stepped into this foyer. His steps were tentative, which broke her heart a little bit. They had renovated this house to be theirs. Even before they were a couple, he had known her house better than she had. But here he was, acting like a stranger.

"Hey," he replied. They stood in front of each other in the middle of the living room, neither sure of how to proceed. They had never been this awkward together. Their early friendship and subsequent coupling had been marked by an easiness that had now left the room. Hell, it had skipped town, jumped on a plane, left on a rocket for the moon.

"You wanted to talk?" Lorelai said hesitantly, breaking the silence.

"Where's Christopher?" Luke asked abruptly.

Lorelai did a double-take. "What?"

"Where's Christopher?" Luke repeated, his voice tense.

"Paris," Lorelai replied, bewildered.

It was Luke's turn to do a double-take. "Paris?" he echoed.

"Yeah, Sherry wanted to see Gigi so he took her there. I don't know how long he's staying."

"Oh," Luke replied. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked to the floor, unsure how to proceed given that new information.

Lorelai inhaled deeply, and decided to just go for it. "He asked me to go with him."

Luke's head shot up again, questions apparent in his eyes. "He did?"

"I said no," Lorelai replied. She stood still, trying to steady herself. She hadn't been alone in a room with Luke in a really long time. "I couldn't."

"Why?" Luke asked, and his voice was soft and searching.

Lorelai shrugged. "Because he's not you."

Luke shook his head. "What does that _mean_?"

"It means that I'm not going to settle for less than what I want," Lorelai said, feeling a flash of strength shoot up her spine. She closed her eyes briefly, seeking courage from deep within her. Opening her eyes, she looked deeply into Luke's. "I found love once, and I'm waiting until I can have it again."

He stepped forward, and she felt her strength falter slightly. "With who?" he asked, his voice still soft but a slight strain coming through, just underneath.

"I don't know if the man I'm in love with will ever love me again," she murmured, her eyes not leaving his. "I hurt him, really badly. I would understand if he didn't feel the same."

"He never stopped loving you," Luke replied quietly. Lorelai smiled, tears pricking at her eyes. He cleared his throat, then looked away. "But are you sure I'm what you want?"

"What?" Lorelai asked, eyebrow furrowed. "Why would you say that?"

He sighed loudly in frustration, spreading his arms wide. "I'm just this town. A diner. A kid that's practically grown up. That's it, that's all I have to offer. I don't have millions of dollars. I don't have a fancy car, or an expensive wardrobe. I can't… whisk you off to Paris at a moment's notice."

"Luke," she said softly, walking toward him, closing the small space between them. " _I'm_ this town. _I'm_ the Dragonfly, which would still be a dream floating around in my head if it wasn't for you. My kid _is_ grown up." She stopped in front of him. "I don't know what I can do to make you see. I don't want all those things. I want to be with _you_. Why is it so hard for you to understand that?"

"I don't know," he replied, meeting her eyes again.

"I'm not Rachel," she said, her hand reaching up to touch his cheek gently.

"I know," he said, "but you could do so much, be so much. I'm holding you back."

"No," Lorelai replied, shaking her head furiously.

"You could have done that traveling consulting thing, but you didn't because of me," he pressed.

"Luke, that's not me. Yeah, it was nice to be wooed by a giant company, but you _know_ me, you know how much I love this town, and my inn, and _you_." She sighed, and tilted her head, looking deeply into his eyes. "You make me better. You are my home."

He smiled tentatively, a slight blush coming across his face. He lifted his hand to be against hers, still resting against his slightly stubbled cheek. She lifted up to her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

The kiss started soft and practically innocent. They pulled back, hesitating. Lorelai leaned in again, and pecked his lips, the softness and familiarity drawing her in again, over and over. He reached out and placed a tentative hand at her hip. The kiss grew, more demanding and intense as the seconds ticked by.

Lorelai let her hand drift to the back of his head, and parted her lips slightly. She felt his tongue brush against her bottom lip before pushing inside. She welcomed the sensation of his tongue against hers, brushing up on the inside of her cheek, caressing her mouth as she caressed his. His lips were soft but demanding, claiming her as his.

They began moving towards the stairs, almost drowning in one another, practically fused together. Hips undulated and hands roamed. Lorelai began to undo the buttons on his shirt, and Luke pulled back slightly. "Doing?" he asked, barely able to get the word out.

"Getting you naked," Lorelai breathed.

"I don't know if that's a good… if we should… " Luke tried to say, all the blood in his body currently relocated. Her hand snaked up underneath his shirt and made contact with his hot skin. They both groaned at the sensation.

"Just a little naked," Lorelai murmured.

"Okay," Luke relented. Her heel thumped against the bottom stair and she clutched his shirt to keep from falling. He slid his hands underneath her ass and she hopped up, circling her long legs around his torso and gripping his neck. They clumsily went up the stairs, pausing occasionally to readjust or to kiss furiously against the wall.

"Conversation's not over," Lorelai breathed during a short break, both of them panting for air and pressed up against each other.

"Just postponed," he agreed, capturing her lips again like a starving man.

They stumbled upstairs, needing to brace themselves against the wall to avoid falling into a heap. Lorelai's shirt got lost somewhere before they fell onto the bed, Luke's shirts long gone somewhere at the bottom of the stairs. His pants gaped open and her skirt was pushed up around her hips.

"Inside me just for a minute," Lorelai pleaded, her hips bucking slightly against his. His palms slid down to grasp her ass again and he squeezed slightly.

"You're killing me," Luke groaned, as he undid the clasp on the front of her bra, letting the molded cups hang loosely off her shoulders.

"What a way to go," Lorelai said weakly, as his lips trailed down her chest to linger over her breast. His tongue darted out and he flicked her nipple lightly, and Lorelai gasped.

"Now, now, in me now," she panted, taking off her underwear and pushing his pants down. She straddled him, pushing him down firmly on the bed. She held his throbbing cock in her hand and slowly let herself fall on him, her body practically singing praises from the pleasurable sensation.

She paused, looking down at him, his lips parted and breathing heavily, hair mussed and eyes dark with desire. "We'll do whatever it takes," she breathed. "No more being apart."

"Agreed," Luke choked out, his hands grasping her hips firmly.

"Even if we have to go to couples counseling," she said, lifting up and then slowly lowering herself, his grip steadying her.

"Even if," he groaned, as she circled her hips above him.

"God, I love you," she moaned, sliding her hands up his chest.

"Feeling's mutual," he replied, then flipped her over before she knew what was happening. He pushed into her, keeping his thrusts smooth and deliberate, knowing from muscle memory exactly how to make her come. He felt the telltale tightening in her core before she moaned loudly, arching her back into him and letting her jaw fall slack with ecstasy. He snuck his hand underneath her and pulled her closer to him, knowing he was close.

"Mmm," she purred, and he knew she was still riding out the aftershocks. A few more deep thrusts and he came, breathing hard, still holding her close to his chest. He leaned forward and kissed her lips, their bodies still pulsating with the culmination of their love. She reached her arms out to encircle his neck, relishing the feel of their sweat-slicked and sated skin pressed up against each other.

After a moment, he pulled back, placing a few kisses down her chest. He fell beside her, resting on his side, and pulled her close to spoon her against him.

"I was joking before, about the therapy," Lorelai said as they lay next to each other. Luke's hand was absently running up and down her side, curving into the dip at her hip bone and circling around to the swell of her breast.

"I wasn't," Luke said, and Lorelai craned her next to look back at him. "I'm serious," he said. "I'll do whatever it takes." He lifted his nose to her hair and breathed in deeply. "I miss you too much when you're not mine."

"We can leave it as an option," Lorelai said slowly, thinking it over. "Keep it on the table. But, as a last resort. So, on the table, but buried under last week's mail and take out menus."

Luke chuckled. "Sure."

"We need to keep talking," Lorelai said, her voice sounding wistful.

"Agreed," Luke replied. "And not just stupid stuff. Real stuff, like we used to talk about all the time."

"Hmm," Lorelai murmured in agreement. "We need a code word."

"A what?"

"A code word. Or phrase. Something we can say that will make it obvious we want to have a serious capital-T Talk."

"Can't we just say 'let's talk'?" he groused.

"No, that doesn't give this the gravity it deserves. It needs to be a phrase that I would never say normally, so you know it's the code and not me just talking. It needs to be something like, I'm craving salad. Because you know if I ever say that, something is seriously wrong."

"That doesn't work. I _like_ salad."

"But you never _crave_ salad. In fact, you never crave anything. You just eat for fuel. I've never heard you say, 'hoo boy, could I go for some tofu and bean sprouts'. Never!" She turned to face him and he smiled patiently at her.

"I crave you," he said.

Lorelai giggled. "You sweet talker."

He pulled her in close for a kiss. "No craving salads right now. Later."

"Later," Lorelai agreed, closing her eyes and luxuriating in the feel of his strong body pressed up against hers. "I'll crave the heck out of salads later."

.

END


End file.
